Cat walking off lead

just cruel.sick of humans and what they do to animals.

Exactly. It’s no fun for any creature to be chased.

Also bizarre of you to think that your dog should be allowed to run round chasing squirrels etc. but the cat should be contained to protect it from your dog?

100% your fault!
If your dog chases other animals it shouldn't be allowed off the lead. 400m from houses is not very far, cats can wander especially in more rural areas, and it's entirely possible the cat just followed it's owners into the field when they went for a walk rather than the actually 'walking' the cat. Nobody is going to put their cat in a crrier like you suggest and take it out for a walk- that would be strange and unpleasant for the cat- carriers are for transporting to the vet or elsewhere- not taking them out for fun!

Is this a reverse?
You think the cat (an animal that often roams free) should have been safely contained?
Your dog chased the cat, you couldn't safely contain your dog (an animal that cam cause serious harm and is not allowed to roam free).
But it's the cat owner in the wrong?

I’ve seen adventure cats people walk them as they would a dog usually have back carriers for them

Could be a cat, could be another dog, could be a runner. If you can't call your dog back it shouldn't be off a lead

So if I summarise, today we had:

• A newfoundland in hospital
• A pet rat in a café
• A weeing dog in a well-known shop
• An off-lead cat

What a day my friends, what a day.

I saw a cat being taken for a walk on a lead on a BEACH once!! The cat looked so pissed off and was picking it's feet up, probably wondering how it was going to lick all the sand off when they got home! Bizarre🙄

Maybe put your untrained dog on a lead?

It clearly has no recall. By allowing it to chase after anything, you're putting it (and other creatures) in danger.

Ok, so now have had an issue with your dog for the first time. What will you do better the next time?

If the cat was on lead it wouldn't change anything - it was your off-lead dog who approached another pet uninvited and scared it.

We had my Lhasapoo (on a lead) in a dog friendly cafe once and the table next to us had a cat in one of those cat backpacks (like a spacecat) my idiot dog didn't even notice the cat 😂

Unfortunately 'i wasn't expecting to see x' or 'I haven't taught my dog to ignore x' is not a valid excuse.

Your dog is your responsibility, so you should teach your dog to recall and to ignore in a wide variety of situations, so that your dog generalises and recalls away from/ignores everything except you and their own toys.

I know working lurchers who can be sent after not just 'rabbits' but a specific animal, through livestock, and other wildlife, and it wouldn't cross their minds to chase anything but the target animal.

It is perfectly possible to train a dog to chase nothing, to chase only what they're told to chase, to ignore one species but not another... that is why dogs have been hunting companions for as long as they have.

If you don't want to put in that level of work, then manage your dog safely using a lead. You can use a long line that trails on the ground to practice recall and there are myriad private hire fields you can use for training and exercise around the country. There really is no excuse.

Whilst there is little legal recourse for the cat owner if their cat is injured or killed if its out unsupervised or if it strays into a dogs own garden, the same almost certainly will not apply if they are walked on a lead, or are in the owners arms and your dog grabs them. A cat walking off lead, close to their owner is likely to be considered 'under control' compared to a dog off lead at a distance from their owner, ignoring a recall cue!!

Our cat used to come to join us on walks with our dog, behind our house, on fields.
As the dog population grew locally, we used to have to chase her home.

She never would have consented to a lead, and just joined us for the walk ( seriously ) 😁

You obviously don’t mean ‘poor kitty’ but that aside, regardless, many cats are bigger than small dog breeds… can’t you control your dog? If not… why is it off the lead? Have you not trained it? Again, if not, why not? And if you’re not able why is it off lead?

So two families are walking their pets off lead.
One of the pets starts after the other, the other hide in it's walker's arms.

It is absolutely clear to me who of those two walkers is being unreasonable.

The title should say "my dog walking off lead" surely. The cat didn't have a lead in the first place. Your dog did.

A la Scooby Doo?

That's precisely the argument that would be used if the cat came to harm, and there was a small claims court claim for vet bills.

Firstly, how can you tell they were “walking their cat” rather than just walking along with their cat next to them?
Also, how would having the cat on a lead change the fact that your dog tried to chase it?

Just popping on here to discuss Siamese. But I see someone has beaten me to it !! My first rescue Siamese would accompany or rather escort the postman around our cul-de-sac. As far as I'm aware, the postman never fed the cat or gave him treats, but would give him affection.

😂

If you aren't able to train your dog not to chase other people's pets or wildlife, you need to keep it on a lead. People are entitled to go out with or without their pets without worrying about your poorly trained dog.

Our Siamese used to go for walks when I was a child. Three of them. Two would go on leads happily, the other wouldn't. Had masses of them over the years but only around half liked walks.

We never encountered dogs off lead, but I would not have fancied their chances up against those three. If we saw a dog they'd generally get on someone's shoulders till they were out of sight.

Used to come to the beach as well, but only one of them actively liked it, the other two were never quite sure.

And recall with a cat.... lol.

Our cat comes for walks with us. Whenever he hears us putting shoes and coat on he's at the front door waiting. Also comes if you call " do you want to go for a walk".

We tend to use common sense regarding any threat from dogs. Usually if there are dogs off lead there are escape routes for the cat where the dog can't/ shouldn't follow (through gaps in fences into gardens/ up trees etc). If there aren't then we wouldn't walk him there. However, they do sometimes follow you and there isn't much you can do about it (other than go home, feed cat, lock it in and set off again).
Not sure why dogs should get priority to be off lead though rather than the cats.